The Magic of Ice Cream
by jerseygirlinoxford
Summary: Had to write a short scene for a class. Of course, Steph and Ranger came to mind. Steph sees Ranger with another woman.
1. Chapter 1

**The Magic of Ice Cream**

_By JerseyGirlinOxford_

Sorry for the long break. I have been busy with real life and an on line course that I'm taking. And, I had been in a writing slump for a while. The good news is that I am working on the next 2 parts to my series….To Be Needed and Not Without You. But in the mean time, I had to write a couple of shorts for my class and decided to share them. After all, they are really fan fics in disguise. I couldn't use the real names for my assignment but I'm sure you can figure out who they are. Hope you enjoy!

I headed home to drown my sorrows in a gallon of Ben and Jerry's. Ice cream had magical properties. Somehow, ice cream always made me feel better. The other magical property was that my ass would double in size overnight. Tonight was about comfort, and tomorrow would be about apparel with spandex. Ripping open the lid, I scooped out a spoonful, well maybe a small mountain, of the heavenly tasting, chocolate chip mint.

I had no right to be angry. But, I was. He had always been honest and upfront with me. He didn't do relationships. My mistake was thinking he felt more. He was always there for me whenever I was in trouble. He always supported me when others laughed. I really believed that he loved me. Seeing him in the arms of another woman was more than my heart could take. I shoveled as much ice cream into my mouth as possible, but not too much that would cause brain freeze.

There had been many times that I tried to define our relationship. His face never gave away any emotions. He was so hard to read. "My lifestyle doesn't lend itself to relationships," he told me. What he should have said was that he just didn't want a relationship with me. What did that woman have that was so special that I didn't have? As much as I would like to say this didn't bother me, I can't. I loved him. There, I said it out loud. Well, I didn't actually utter those words, but I finally admitted it to myself.

He always told me that I should be more aware of my surroundings. So, it came as no surprise that I didn't see the dark figure sitting on my couch until it spoke. His low and husky voice broke the silence. "That stuff will kill you, Babe." Could a person choke on ice cream? I really think I did. I couldn't speak as I watched him saunter over to where I stood. Damn him! He looked so good. It wasn't fair. Here I was trying to forget him, and he just wouldn't go away. He kind of reminded me of gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe. No matter how hard I scraped, there would still be a little left.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. His face gave away nothing as he leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. The painted-on shirt revealed every curve of his muscular body. I think I just drooled a little.

"You've been avoiding me." Gee, I wonder why? His eyes scanned my blank face. Two can play at this game, I thought as I tried to put on a mask of my own. I shifted nervously. The mask wasn't working. He could always see through me. Damn!

"Um…no, I haven't." Now there was a good come back. I couldn't look at him. He knew I was lying. He gently tilted my chin upwards to look into my eyes. I hoped I didn't whimper out loud. His touch always seemed to wreak havoc on my hormones, and my body was aware of the close proximity of his.

"What's wrong?" There it was. The slightest crack in his armor showed itself. Was that concern? Or, was that brief flicker of emotion pity? If I wasn't feeling low enough already by being unwanted, now I was being pitied. That sort of annoyed me. I stepped back from his force field.

"Why aren't you with your girlfriend?" I spat at him. I said 'girlfriend' like I was referencing some horrible STD. The corners of his mouth tipped into a hint of a smile. Great, now he knew that I was jealous. Where the hell was my spoon?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Since you asked very nicely, I did continue The Magic of Ice Cream. You don't have to read that first to understand. Since I wrote this for my 3rd writing assignment, I had to make sure it was a stand alone. There is a 1500k word limit to the shorts I had to write, and I have to thank Nicole for helping me to cut it down. I also want to thank Marilyn for her help as well. You ladies rock! Since I don't have a word count limit here, I added back some of the stuff that we felt only those in the fan fic word would understand. I used different names in the version that I turned in, but I changed them to the 'real' characters that I had in mind. I was going to post this by itself. That's why I marked chapter one as completed, but since so many of you checked the story alert button, I decided to just add this here.

**The Magic of French Fries**

**By**

**JerseyGirlinOxford**

"We need to talk," he told me. I shoveled more ice cream into my mouth and rolled my eyes. The gods took mercy on me and triggered his phone to ring at that very moment, which he stepped into the living room to answer. I really wasn't trying to eavesdrop as I cocked my head towards the doorway. Okay, I lied. I _was_ trying to eavesdrop, but how the hell was I supposed to find out important stuff? I heard him ask if she was hurt before growling a few orders and snapping the phone shut. He rubbed his face with his hands then turned to me. "Sorry, Babe, I have to go. I need you to stay in your apartment till I get back."

"But…." I began to reply, but he silenced me with a kiss. I think he melted the rest of my ice cream. Then like smoke in the wind, he was gone. I shuffled over to my couch and flopped onto my favorite spot. "What the hell just happened?" I asked aloud. I took another spoonful of chocolate chip mint. Even though he told me he didn't do relationships, I still believed we had something between us. I'd seen him all over town with a cheap looking tramp, so I avoided him like the plague. Then, he just showed up at my apartment, uninvited I might add, and ruined my pity party.

The last few minutes replayed over and over in my head. Sensible Me would have rationalized the whole situation. He came here to explain, something happened, and he said he would be back. But, Sensible Me was MIA. Stupid Me had another theory. Stupid Me believed that Ranger got bored with me, found himself some skanky ho, and then ran off to be with her. And what was up with him treating me like a dog by telling me to stay?

I ruefully glanced down at the minty green soup at the bottom of the container. Nope, Ben & Jerry weren't going to cut it tonight. This was major, and only the Golden Arches would be able to provide the Valium I needed. But last time I checked, McDonalds didn't deliver. I _needed_ to leave my apartment to get that Big Mac and fries. I could have sworn I actually heard the thud as Stupid Me knocked Sensible Me to the floor. "Stay my ass," I muttered as I gathered my bag and keys. I shoved my feet back into my sneakers and headed to my car.

After three attempts, the crap mobile sputtered to life. My spidey senses began to tingle. I scanned the parking lot, but nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. No time to worry about that now. I was on a mission. There was a Big Mac meal with my name on it. As the car jerked and bucked its way out of the parking lot, the feeling of unease began to ebb. By the time I spotted the red and yellow lights of Mecca, the creepy sensation that I was being watched had abated. I could practically taste the salt of the fries on my tongue as I pulled up to the speaker.

"Welcome to McDonalds. Can I take your order?" a female voice asked.

"I'd like a Big Mac meal, size large, with a coke," I requested.

"Anything else?"

"Um…and a large chocolate shake, "I added. I might as well make sure that I loaded up on all the comfort food that I would need for our talk later.

"Does that complete your order?"

Something was missing. "Oh, I'd like a couple of hot apple pies, too." A person can't go to McDonalds and not get an apple pie. I think there was a law against that or something. I pulled around and paid for my feast.

Before I left the lot, I had to sample a fist full of fries. McDonalds' fries were the bomb. They had even more magical properties than ice cream. Not only were French fries magical, but they came from potatoes…which means they were vegetables. So, I was eating something healthy! As I began to fold over the bag, the passenger door creaked opened, and a man in a black leather jacket jumped inside. The lights reflected off something metallic in his hand, and before I could call out, I felt a burning pain in my right side. My heart pounded in my chest, and time seemed to stand still. He stabbed me!

"Drive, bitch!" he hissed at me. Bitch? Not only did this jerk sit on my Big Mac meal, but he just called me a bitch, too! I felt the blade poke me in the side again.

"Ow!" I whined. This was so not good. First, I defied Ranger's _orders_, and now I had been car-jacked and stabbed. Worst of all, I didn't get to eat my Big Mac and apple pies.

"I said drive!" he commanded again. I didn't ask where, I just drove. I felt the warm blood on my hip as it seeped from the wound. I drove back to my apartment on autopilot. Since he didn't tell me where, it seemed like the right place. I had to keep it together, despite a sense of impending doom. I thought about how much I loved Ranger and never told him. But, he was with _her_. I was in trouble, and bleeding, and this scum bag was eating my fries, and Ranger ran off to help that skanky ho. Unable to hold it back any longer, the tears ran down my checks. The icing on the cake came when this psycho ate my pies. Not having won any popularity contests with me so far, he was officially placed as _Numero Uno_ on my shit list.

My heart sank when I didn't see Ranger's truck in the parking lot. I hoped he'd returned, and then he could save me as usual. I was tired, my side hurt, and I was cold and clammy. I chugged into my regular spot.

"Why'd you pull into this shit hole when I didn't tell you to stop?" he asked. "Keep driving!" Shit hole? This was _my _shit hole. Zapped of all my energy, Stupid Me still had to get in a dig.

"Boy, you are lucky I feel like crap. Otherwise, I would…um," I began. He smacked his lips and rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah? You'd what?"

"Well, I can't think of anything right now, but whatever it was, you sure as hell wouldn't like it!" That told him! After backing up, I turned towards the exit as a black truck entered. Ranger! What should I do? He didn't know that I had some French fry-eating, psycho-jerk in my car. Well, it definitely wouldn't surprise him. Then I did the only thing I could think of…I smashed my foot down on the gas pedal and hit the truck head-on.

Luckily, the crap mobile didn't have airbags, so the car-jacker kissed the windshield. Since he was busy bleeding, I made my escape. Ranger pulled me into his arms.

"I'm sorry," I told him. A look of panic flashed over his face. He called to some of his men that had just arrived on the scene. Everything started to go dark. I guessed the stab wound was worse than I thought. What if I didn't make it? I had to tell Ranger that I loved him. As he scooped me up into his arms, I whispered, "I love you." Then, my world went black.

When I opened my eyes, the stark appearance of the room and the beeping of machines told me I was in the hospital. Swell. The pain in my side was down to a dull throb. Morphine had magical properties as well. I slowly became aware of a warm and calloused hand that covered mine. I glanced over and saw Ranger slouched in the chair beside the bed. His head was tipped back, and his eyes were closed. I squeezed his hand, and he began to stir.

"Welcome back, Babe," he said in a hoarse voice. As he leaned forward, he pulled my hand to his lips for a kiss. "I thought I lost you."

"I'm sorry," I whispered then swallowed hard. My throat felt like sandpaper, and all I could think about was my car-jacked Coke.

"I'm okay. You can go back to your _girlfriend_." Only, I didn't say '_girlfriend_', I said '_skanky ho_'. A slow smile brightened his face.

"I'm going to take full advantage of the fact that you are a captive audience right now," he began. I really didn't want to hear this, but I had no choice.

"First, Nicole is not my girlfriend. She is the sister of an old Army buddy. Her ex-fiancé had beaten her several times. She tried to get a restraining order, but his father is best friends with the judge. It was a set up, Babe. If he thought Nicole and I were a couple, he would come after me. I never expected him to come after you."

"What? Why didn't you tell me this? I see you with her all over town. Then some psycho jerk stabs me and eats my French fries! He called me a bitch, too!" He raised one eyebrow. I hated when he did that. Mainly because I couldn't.

"I _tried _to tell you several times, Babe. You've been avoiding me."

"Uh…no, I w-wasn't." He did the eyebrow thing again. Sighing, I slumped lower in the bed. This was my fault because I had avoided him. Before I could say another word, he kissed me. Ranger's kisses were better than fries, ice cream, and Big Macs.

"I love you, too." He stood up and pushed the tray over the bed. There sat a McDonalds bag and a Coke. "And when you are up to it, I'll show you how much I love you." And no one believed that French fries were magical! Well, maybe it was love that was magical.

THE END


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